Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s 2024 bid is likely to put his criticism of Donald Trump at the fore, offering a test of how hungry the GOP is for an explicitly anti-Trump candidate.
Christie’s long-awaited presidential bid has been met with skepticism by Republicans, some of whom suggest that his candidacy is simply a vanity project, while others are quick to point out that Christie, though now a critic Trump spokesperson, had worked closely to help re-elect the former president. in 2020.
But even some of those Republicans acknowledge that the former New Jersey governor’s pugilistic style could have an impact on the field, and even damage Trump to some degree.
“If it’s not a vanity campaign, I think the value of it … is that it can go in there and hit hard and maybe other candidates in the field can benefit from that,” said GOP strategist Jason Cabel Roe , who worked on presidential campaigns. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) in 2008 and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in 2016.
Much of the 2024 GOP field has largely avoided confronting Trump as Republican contenders navigate the tricky dance of adopting positions and policies that were popular with conservatives during the Trump administration while differentiating themselves from the former president himself .
While presidential primaries generally see the candidates attacking each other, the 2024 Republican candidates are also keenly aware that attacking Trump could risk alienating win-over voters who still admire the former president .
But unlike most of the 2024 GOP field, Christie hasn’t shied away from taking jabs at the former president. After last November’s disappointing midterm results for Republicans, former New Jersey Gov he pointed to a number of Trump-backed candidates who lost their racessaying it was a “huge loss for Trump.”
“And once again, it shows that his political instincts are not about the party, not about the country, but about him,” he added at the time.
During Trump’s appearance at CPAC earlier this year, Christie also took a shot the former president and the size of his audience attending his speech.
“You saw the scenes at CPAC, that room was half full,” Christie said in March. “The reason I don’t think the rallies will happen…I don’t think the rallies will be as big as they used to be.”
Arizona-based GOP strategist and Trump campaign alum Brian Seitchik believed Christie’s anti-Trump approach could have some long-term benefits if another Republican clinches the nomination and wins the presidency, but suggested which is not likely to win over GOP voters for Christie.
“If Trump loses New Hampshire, Christie will be part of it, but I don’t see voters rewarding him as a result,” Seitchik said.
“Now, this may cause a future Republican presidential candidate to award it [naming him] attorney general, which isn’t a bad consolation prize, but it’s hard to see how Christie gets to be the [nominee] playing the role of scrap dog in this race.”
GOP strategist Keith Naughton suggested Christie would focus primarily on Trump rather than a different view of the party.
“I don’t think he’s really going to offer any kind of alternative platform or anything, I think he’s going to mainly talk about Trump and try to pick a fight with him,” Naughton said.
At the same time, party insiders acknowledge that Christie’s fight has been effective in the past and could potentially bring Trump down a few pegs. Christie took a series of jabs at Rubio during a 2016 New Hampshire debate, criticizing him for reverting to a “25-second rote speech” and has been credited with severely damaging the Florida senator’s presidential bid.
Later, Rubio finished fifth in the New Hampshire primary, while Christie finished sixth, and the Florida senator acknowledged that he did not fare well on debate night.
Unlike most of the group, Christie’s is also the only one to have debated Trump before in 2016. It also assisted the former president in debate preparation during the 2020 cycle, giving him better insight into the ins and outs of thinking of Trump in a debate stage.
Republican strategist and former Christie aide Colin Reed suggested that going after Trump would benefit him.
“History shows that just sitting back and waiting for Donald Trump to implode is not a recipe for political success,” Reed said.
“The one thing that I think sets him so far apart from the rest of the field is that he won’t hesitate or shy away from criticizing the former president in articulating why. [Trump’s] he is not the right candidate to become the next president,” he added.
Reed also dismissed the idea that Christie’s candidacy was not serious, saying that he “would not be embarking on this endeavor if he did not believe there was [a] viable path for his own candidacy.”
Other Republicans also stress that party members need to keep an open mind about the growing field, saying it’s too soon to write off candidates like Christie.
“Donald Trump is the favorite, and when he first ran, nobody gave him a chance. And so I think there’s some of those same conversations about Mike Pence, right? If somehow Donald Trump has to drop or falter, the race potentially restarts,” explained GOP strategist Doug Heye.
“…DeSantis is probably in the strongest position of anyone, but if the race restarts, no one is smart enough to know exactly which way it’s going to go. And so it’s premature at this point to write anyone off , especially someone with the political and communication skills of a Chris Christie,” he added.
